Jul 18, 2014

Acting Commissioner Promises To Address EEO Problems

The Social Security Administration is overhauling its
internal anti-discrimination program after federal auditors found that the
agency failed to establish an adequate system for handling employee claims.

Auditors from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission reported in May that the Woodlawn-based agency had failed to follow
regulations on addressing workplace discrimination complaints, had manipulated
data to boost case completion rates and might have allowed managers to
interfere in what were supposed to be impartial investigations. Of 2,292 claims
processed over a four-year period, not one resulted in a finding of
discrimination, they reported.

The agency, which employs 60,000 workers nationwide and
11,000 in Maryland, told The Baltimore Sun on Thursday that acting Commissioner
Carolyn W. Colvin had ordered an action plan to transform its Equal Employment
Opportunity program into a "model program." ...

Commission auditors found that top managers of the agency's
Equal Employment Opportunity program had worked previously in the general
counsel's office, which defends the agency against discrimination claims.

"We find that a majority of ... employees interviewed
expressed concerns about the general counsel's office's involvement during the
EEO investigation process and perceived the involvement as a conflict of
interest," they wrote. "We continue to note that the investigative
process is a non-adversarial fact-finding process."

Auditors also suggested that Social Security managers
reviewed and made changes to affidavits by employees in the early stages of
investigations. The EEOC said it reviewed testimony that appeared to have
changed between the time it was initially given by an employees and then
signed.
...

Employees interviewed by auditors said the agency sometimes
attempted to make those rates look better than they actually were.
"Several ... employees stated that when the report of investigation is
untimely, some ... managers move the case file to the next fiscal year to look
timely, and that they manipulate the data in the ... tracking system," the
auditors wrote. ...